Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) could almost taste the podium spumante as they neared the finish line of stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia in Napoli - the pair had a 40-second lead on the peloton with 4km to go and it seemed as if the sprinters' teams had miscalculated.
Their hopes were quickly dashed, however, as in the final kilometre, they glanced back to see the peloton barreling down on them and knew it was over. Clarke put in a half-hearted sprint but could only wince when Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) blasted past along with the eventual stage winner Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).
